A liquid crystal display (LCD) is a type of flat panel display (FPD) which displays images by the property of the liquid crystal material. In comparison with other display devices, the LCD has the advantages in lightweight, compactness, low driving voltage and low power consumption, and thus has already become the mainstream product in the whole consumer market. In a traditional process of LCD panel, it comprises a front-end array process, a mid-end cell process and a back-end modulation process. The front-end array process is used to produce thin-film transistor (TFT) substrates (also called array substrates) and color filter (CF) substrates; the mid-end cell process is used to combine the TFT substrate with the CF substrate, then fill liquid crystal into a space therebetween, and cut to form panels with a suitable product size; and the back-end modulation process is used to execute an installation process of the combined panel, a backlight module, a panel driver circuit, an outer frame, etc. Furthermore, in the mid-end cell process, the TFT substrate must be aligned and combined with the CF substrate for filling the liquid crystal into the space between the TFT substrate and the CF substrate.
Referring now to FIG. 1, a cross-sectional view of a traditional liquid crystal panel is illustrated in FIG. 1. It should be noted that the figure has omitted some components unrelated to the present description based on explanation convenience, so that the figure is only a simplified schematic view. As shown in FIG. 1, a traditional liquid crystal panel 90 is constructed by stacking a CF substrate 92 on an array substrate 91, wherein a plurality of spherical spacers 93 are dispersedly distributed between the array substrate 91 and the CF substrate 92. The spherical spacers 93 can maintain a fixed distance between the array substrate 91 and the CF substrate 92 for receiving the liquid crystal (not-shown).
Referring now to FIG. 2, a cross-sectional view of another traditional liquid crystal panel is illustrated in FIG. 2 which is also shown by a simplified schematic manner. The liquid crystal panel 90′ of FIG. 2 is substantially the same as the liquid crystal panel 90 of FIG. 1, i.e. constructed by stacking a CF substrate 92′ on an array substrate 91′, wherein a plurality of pillar-like spacers 93′ are protruded from a lower surface of the CF substrate 92′, and the pillar-like spacers 93′ are formed by exposure and development during manufacturing the CF substrate 92′. The pillar-like spacers 93′ can maintain a fixed distance between the array substrate 91′ and the CF substrate 92′ for receiving the liquid crystal (not-shown).
Although the configurations of the traditional spacers 93, 93′ are different, the common purpose thereof is to evenly support the gap between the array substrate 91, 91′ and the CF substrate 92, 92′ of the liquid crystal panel 90, 90′, in order to ensure the display quality of the liquid crystal panel 90, 90′. However, there are still some problems existing in the traditional spacers 93, 93′, as follows: for the spherical spacers 93 of FIG. 1, during the manufacturing process of dispersing the spherical spacers 93, it is difficult to efficiently control the distribution density of spraying process, so that the distribution density of the spherical spacers 93 is uneven to affect the evenness of the liquid crystal panel 90 and the display quality thereof. On the other hand, for the pillar-like spacers 93′ of FIG. 2, when the liquid crystal panel 90′ is impacted by external force, the pillar-like spacers 93 of the CF substrate 92′ will be shifted in relation to the array substrate 91′, and the displacement thereof can not be restored, resulting in permanently leaking light and thus affecting the display quality of the liquid crystal panel 90′.
As a result, it is necessary to provide a liquid crystal panel and a spacer structure thereof to solve the problems existing in the conventional technologies, as described above.